


La Coccinelle and La Farfalla

by ScaleGoblet



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chloe learns real lessons, Chloè redemption, F/M, Lila Redemption, Lila hits rock bottom, More of a canon rewrite tbh, Not Canon Compliant, ml salt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2020-05-16 02:46:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19309051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScaleGoblet/pseuds/ScaleGoblet
Summary: The Peacock and Black Cat miraculous are gone. Using the former, a shadowy enemy, Le Paon, aims to draw out the Ladybug. The Butterfly was meant to fix this, operating safely and remotely to draw out this enemy with the Guardian's guidance. But Fu may have chosen wrong yet again. He can only hope that Ladybug can hold out against her own partner long enough to stop Le Paon and retrieve the miraculous.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For a while I've wondered who would make a good Butterfly if not Hawkmoth and it hit me that Lila, for better or worse, is perfect Butterfly wielder. So I wanted to explore that!

In hindsight, the brooch was rather attention grabbing. Calculating green eyes roved over the gaudy piece of jewelry. 

“Is there no way to disguise it,” she asked the creature floating meekly at her shoulder.

“I am sorry, Miss,” the creature replied. “This is what the miraculous looks like when is it powered down. There is no way to change its appearance.”

The girl blew hard, brushing the hair out of her face. She examined the peace of jewelry again. She had been rather critical. After all, the brooch in its “powered down” state was not overly large or particularly unusual. But if she started to wear such a piece of jewelry so suddenly and without explanation there would be a few questions.

She walked over to her closet pulling out an orange jacket. She slipped it on, adjusting it and appraising her appearance in the mirror. When she deemed the outfit acceptable, she took the small, purple brooch and pinned it to the inside of her jacket. 

The creature, Nooroo, she believed it had introduced itself, hovered around her anxiously. “Would you like to know more about -”

“What did you say you were the god of again” the girl asked.

At this, Nooroo grew more animated. “Oh, I’m not quite a god, Miss. I’m a kwami, the kwami of Transmission! And your brooch is the miraculous of the Butterfly!”

Her green eyes sharpened at this information. “You mentioned powers. What powers will this _miraculous _,” she said, tasting the word, “give me?”__

__“In addition to a suit to protect you from harm, you will receive the power of Akumatisation! When you transform, you will be surrounded by white butterflies. Hold out your hand to one and when it lands there, you can infuse it with your power. It will become an akuma and with it you may make a champion.”_ _

__At this the girl grew harsh and for the first time in many years, Nooroo flinched back from his chosen. “And what good will that do me,” she sneered. “My power is to give power to others? What about me?”  
_ _

__

__

__“Your champions will fight for you, Miss. A Butterfly need not fight if they do not wish it. You will feel strong emotions when wearing the miraculous and with these emotions you can convince and encourage others to aid you. And you do this with the akuma.”_ _

__The girl thought about the changes upcoming in her life. The power to get others to do what she wanted, she already had that in spades. She was uniquely skilled in that regard, dropping just the right combination of words to sway others to her side. But adding on a superpowered boost to that? Yes, she could find ways to work with that easily._ _

__“What do I have to do?”_ _

__“You just say the words, Miss. Whenever you wish to transform, you say, ‘Nooroo, wings rise’ and when you wish to detransform, you say ‘Nooroo, wings fall.’”_ _

__“Excellent,” she purred, mind already racing with possibilities._ _

__“One thing, Miss? You’ve not yet introduced yourself to me.”_ _

__She fought the urge to roll her eyes at the creature, it would not do well to be at odds with the source of her power just yet. “Oh? I can’t believe I forgot! My name is Lila.”_ _

__The god or rather the kwami beamed. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Lila!”_ _

__“And you,” she agreed. “Now, I think I want to understand these powers just a bit more. Nooroo, wings rise!”_ _

__Immediately Nooroo moved, almost faster than she could see, into the inside of her jacket. Looking down, she saw that her brooch was no longer there. Instead it sat on her collar, having gained a pair of silvery purple wings. She saw something glowing out of the corner of her eye and observed dozens of pristine butterflies fluttering their wings as they perched in her room._ _

__And yet she found herself with little time to be shocked at these revelations as she gazed at herself with fresh eyes._ _

__Her clothes had gone. Instead she was wearing a suit fitting of a superhero. Examining herself in the mirror she first noted the mask around her eyes. It seemed vaguely shaped like a purple butterfly which, she supposed, was rather appealing. She saw that it appeared she was wearing a suit colored black from neck to thigh. She appeared almost to be wearing boots as well as her legs were covered in a purple fabric. Her orange jacket seemed to have been incorporated into the design as well, cropped at her ribcage and colored purple as well. She flexed her hand, examining the way that the fabric rippled over her knuckles._ _

__Looking down, she noticed the cane grasped in her other fist. She pulled on the crystal at the end and found that it concealed a sword. Out of a morbid sense of curiosity, she pressed her fingertip to the edge and gasped as she found it was actually sharp. She returned the weapon to its sheath and glanced at herself in the mirror once more._ _

__She took in her appearance a final time. The Butterfly miraculous. The kwami of Transmission. And the ability to give power to others. An idea sparked in her mind._ _

__“Farfalla,” she settled on. Her gaze was predatory and she looked down with barely contained glee as her brooch flashed and glimmered in the low light of her room._ _

__Her grin was savage._ _

__

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

__“Do you believe you made the correct choice, Master? For the Butterfly miraculous?”_ _

__The old man looked up at the window, at the room where the girl, the new holder of the Butterfly miraculous was likely getting acquainted with her kwami. He observed the brilliant flash of violet light through the blinds and knew that, for better or worse, Paris would have a new miraculous wielder._ _

__He thought back to their exchange earlier. He had been wandering the streets for some time, doing his best to find suitable candidates for the duty of wielding a miraculous. When he had posed as a feeble man, having tripped and stumbled, unable to get up, he saw a second’s hesitation in the girl’s eyes before she helped him up._ _

__At the time, he had read it as nervousness, a simple moment taken to assess whether anyone else would help before she took action herself._ _

__But in hindsight?_ _

__He could look back now and see the equations running over the backs of her eyelids. Looking around not see who would help but rather who would see _her _help. Had they not been in such a populated area, he doubted she would have taken a step in his direction at all. But they were and so after that brief moment, the girl had all but sprinted over.___ _

____“Are you alright, sir,” she said with feigned sweetness. At the time, he saw compassion._ _ _ _

____“My cousin works in the medical field, I’ve learned a lot from her. Do you need me to make a splint for your leg?” At the time he saw due diligence._ _ _ _

____“Oh, but are you absolutely sure you’ll be alright on your own? That was such a _nasty _fall and I’d hate for you to be hurt.." At the time, he saw someone worthy._ _ _ _ __

____Now, he ran through her actions after. How she turned instantly to the people crowding around them when it was clear she would get nothing else from him. How she spoke to them saying, "Oh, it was nothing" and "I can’t believe how cruel others can be, walking by him like that" and "I’m just glad I was there."_ _ _ _

____The Butterfly miraculous required a skill with persuasion that was rare to pinpoint at first glance. After all, whether they acted for good or evil, Butterfly users essentially employed manipulation to akumatize their champions and manipulators and liars were typically good at concealing this ability._ _ _ _

____“Oh, my old friend, I fear I have chosen the perfect Butterfly._ _ _ _


	2. Stoneheart Pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder this fic is completely different from canon. For starters Lila is in class from day one. A lot of the show's akumas will take place differently for that reason. There are some that won't happen at all and I have plans for original akuma as well! I hope you enjoy this chapter!!

The first day of school was always nerve wracking. That’s what Marinette Dupain-Cheng thought as she packed up the last few macarons she would be bringing to her class.

“You’ll be fine sweetie,” her mother said, rubbing her arm reassuringly. 

"But what if I'm not, maman?! What if I'm in Chloe's class again?"

“That many years in a row? The chance that you’ll be seeing Chloe Bourgeois this year is so low, Marinette. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “Ugh, maman! I just wish I didn't have to think about this!” Already, her mind was racing What she was most worried about was making friends at school. She’d been with a lot of her classmates (even _Chloe_ ) for some time now and she’d only truly managed to make friends with one, Nino, who she’d known since she was little. 

It’s not that her relationship with her other classmates was _bad_ exactly. They’d always gotten along for the most part and she had always been happy to help them when they needed it. But it would be a lie to say that they had ever been close. But that was going to change today!

But, she thought, hearing her maman’s words all over again. If Chloe _was_ there she’d target Marinette again and no one would want to talk to her on the first day even though she’d spent _all night_ making these macarons and she’d be alone for another entire school year making designs in her room by herself and working in the bakery by herself and being alone and by herself and all she wanted to do was have one, good, Chloe-free year at school where she could make _friends_ and - 

“Of course she’ll be fine,” her papa said cutting off his daughters meltdown and sweeping her and her mother into a one-armed hug. “My little cinnamon bun is the cutest and sweetest in the whole world. And,” he said, tightening the bear hug, “everything will be okay. I just know it!”

“Alright, thank you papa,” she rasped. “But I have to go now.”

“Oh!” Tom Dupain set his daughter and wife down sheepishly. “You’re right!”

Sabine Cheng picked up her daughter’s bag, handing it off to her with a kiss on the cheek. “Have a good day at school, sweetie! Remember, we love you no matter what.”

Marinette sped out of the bakery with such haste that she nearly forgot the box of macarons and almost collided with the telephone pole outside. She turned back to face the window of the bakery waving quickly and mouthing, _I’m okay_ , before speeding down the street. 

_I can do this! I’m strong! I’m confident! I’m -_

She hit something hard and fell to the ground. She looked up from her place on the ground, dazed, before she took in the scene around her. Her macarons were scattered all over the ground and she’d landed hard on her backside, where she kept her phone. She was covered in crumbs and there was a good chance her phone's screen was cracked. She was definitely going to be late. 

“Oh! This is an absolute disaster!”

Though it was tempting to mope on the ground she needed to get moving. She closed the lid of the macaron box, salvaging the few which remained inside. She had finally gathered herself up when she heard a voice.

“Someone! Someone, please help!”

She looked up, almost in slow motion as she zeroed in on the person shouting. There was an elerly man in the middle of the road. He seemed to have fallen and was reaching a feeble arm out to grab his cane. 

Before she really understood what her body was doing, Marinette was grabbing the man’s cane, grabbing him underneath his arms, and hauling him to his feet. They made it across the street in one piece and the man began to sputter out his gratitude.

“Oh, please! You don’t have to thank me, it was just the right thing to do,” she insisted.

The man seemed to look at her with a strange gleam in his eyes. “But it is not something that every person would do. You put yourself in grave danger to assist me.”

They seemed to be drawing a crowd he thought, looking around at the people gathered nearby. How, he wondered, would this girl react? He spotted _her_ there too. Good. 

“No! I - you didn’t - I didn’t - it wasn’t that big a deal.”

“Nonsense,” he said smiling patiently. “I am in your debt, Marinette.”

At that moment the school bell rang and Marinette fell into a panic. “Urg! I’m late. Excuse me sir, I have to go!”

He watched with intrigue as she gently pushed by the crowd to make it to the school just down the street. He looked around at the crowd, assuring concerned onlookers that he was fine. The girl, the Butterfly was nowhere to be seen. He felt a stirring in his pocket and his gaze sharpened. He would have to keep a close eye on that girl. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette burst through the door to Mme. Bustier’s class, huffing and puffing. She should have been a little put down at the fact that few noticed her late entrance, but instead she plopped down in her seat. Nino looked up from his place in front of her. 

“You okay, Marinette?”

She sent him a warm but tired smile. “Hi, Nino. I’m fine, just got held up on my way here.”

There was sympathy in Nino's eyes as he leaned back in his seat. "You wanna tell me what happened?"

“Oh! Um - well I tripped coming in and hit my head and I dropped some of my macarons and then there was this old man who fell in the street so I had to help him up and then the bell rang and - ”

“Woah, woah! Slow down, dudette!”

Marinette snapped her mouth shut and took in a deep breath. “Yeah, you’re right, Nino.”

Before she could say anything else, an imperious laugh rang throughout the room.

“Ah ha ha! Of course! Leave it to Marinette Dupain-Lame to make a complete and utter fool of herself on the first day of school!”

Marinette flinched and glowered up at her tormentor. “What do you want, Chloe”

"Yeah, Chloe," Nino said. "Just chill out!"

“What I want,” the mayor’s daughter said, slamming her palm against the desk, “is for you to stop dirtying up _my_ seat with your presence, Dupain-Cheng!”

At this Marinette blanked. “What? But Chloe this is my seat! It’s always been my seat.”

“Not anymore,” Sabrina quipped. "New year, new seats!

Marinette made no move to leave as Chloe examined her nails disinterestedly. “You see that,” she asked, pointing to the empty seat next to Nino. “ _That_ is where Adrien is going to sit which means that _this_ ,” she said now pointing to Marinette’s chair, “is where _I_ am going to sit. So why don't you just go sit with that new girl or something?” 

Marinette glanced in the direction she was now gesturing, noticing a girl with reddish hair glaring over at Chloe. It would be nice, she thought, to start over with a new friend. But Marinette had never enjoyed watching Chloe get whatever she wanted and, like it or not, this had been her seat for years and everyone knew that!

“Not a chance,” Marinette replied, growing frustrated with this conversation. “Who’s Adrien anway?”

At this Chloe laughed and Sabrina laughed with her haltingly.

“You hear that, Sabrina! She doesn’t even know who _Adrien_ is! Aha ha ha, can you believe that?”

“He’s only the son of an absolute fashion _icon_ and a famous model!" Sabrina informed her.

“Quiet, Sabrina! You’d think, Dupain-Cheng, that with all the time you waste scribbling those hideous designs in your sketchbook that you’d know that. Adrikins is my best friend and he adores me! Now quit being difficult and just move it!” 

Absently, Marinette gathered some of her things together as if to move. But Nino spoke up yet again. 

"No way, dudette! If this Adrien kid's anything like you I don't want him sitting anywhere near me. Or Marinette," he said, giving Marinette an encouraging smile.

"What was that," Chloe asked, feigning curiosity. "I couldn't hear you over the sound of poverty. Besides, when did you grow a spine strong enough to start defending Lame-inette?"

Nino fell silent.

"Ugh!" the new girl shouted, now drawn into the conversation. "Who died and made you the Queen of Seats!"

Chloe smirked, glancing over the girl quickly. "Oh look, Sabrina! We've got ourselves yet another little do-gooder in our class. What are you going to do, Four Eyes? Shoot lasers at me with your glasses?"

"Keep it up and you'll find out!" Without waiting for a response the girl grabbed Marinette's hand, dragging her down into the seat beside her.

The two girls sat in silence for a moment before Marinette found herself speaking. "I wish I could handle Chloe as well as you do."

"It's not too hard," she replied smiling. "My favorite superhero says that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. And _that girl_ is definitely evil which means that we are the good guys!"

Marinette laughed humorlessly. "It's hard to be a good guy when a villain like Chloe has set out to make your life miserable."

"Well," the girl said, "I think the first step to fixing that is to build up some confidence so that you don't let her make you miserable and I'm happy to stick around until you do!"

Marinette gazed up at this girl, this stranger, with wide eyes. Of course, Chloe's words would hurt but she could always focus her attention on more uplifting things. Things like forging new friendships.

Marinette reached for her box of macaroons, noting the beating it had taken with all of her fumbling today. Opening it, she found a single, untouched pastry inside. It had to be a sign. She broke it offering it and her name to the girl. "My name is Marinette."

Without hesitation her new companion took the gift. "I'm Alya."

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Green eyes surveyed the room from a seat in the back. On her first day at a new school, Lila always liked to scope out her classmates, figure out what made them tick. It made it much easier for her to figure out which lies to tell.

In the past she'd come to school with tall tales already prepared but, generally, she'd only needed to do that at schools where she knew she'd have some competition for the spotlight. At another school a few years back she'd been attending with an actress' daughter and had to think of something quickly to snag the attention. 

This didn't seem like a class where she'd need to make an impression so quickly. Aside from the mayor's daughter, there didn't seem to be anyone of note. Unless, of course, this Adrien kid showed up. She'd intended initially to befriend Chloe but her interaction with the mousy girl with the pink pants had given her pause. Chloe clearly liked to throw her weight around and, given the red haired girl's reaction, she'd stepped right into a changing classroom dynamic. Unusual for a first day of school. No, she thought. It would be much safer to see how the pieces were going to fall before making her move. 

Besides, she had seen the mousy girl earlier this morning, helping up that same stupid old man. 

Lila regarded the girl with muted interest. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"That's all for today, everyone! Those of you who have P.E., Mr. D'Argencourt is expecting you at the stadium. The rest of you can head over to the library."

Lila packed her things in silence before she heard a voice ring out.

"Kim!" 

"Ivan," Mme. Bustier called, trying to calm a large boy. "What is going on?"

"It's Kim!" Ivan shouted, raising a hefty fist, "I'm so gonna get - "

"Ivan, go to the principal's office," Mme. Bustier said firmly. 

As she watched Ivan stomp down the stairs, Lila felt a warm thrilling from inside her jacket. Ivan would, no doubt, be experiencing some turbulent emotions right about now . . .

After she had packed up Lila quickly slipped into the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think? I'm posting pretty late today but I've been writing much more than I thought so I'll be changing my upload schedule to post more frequently (but I may post a new chapter tomorrow so that we're able to move through Stoneheart more quickly.)
> 
> Thanks for reading!! ~Ash


	3. Stoneheart: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila's first day at school and at being Farfalla isn't going as planned, Fu has doubts about his prospective Ladybug, and Marinette's compassion and lack of time management land she and Kim in hot water.

Despite it being only the first day back at school, Mme. Bustier had already given her students quite a bit of work to do and Marinette was exceedingly grateful that she had a free period she could use to get some of it done and, she thought, glancing over to her companion, to get to know a new friend.

“So, Marinette? Do you like superheroes?”

“What? Why ask a question like that?”

Alya shook her head fondly. “I mean, why not? That quote from earlier? I told you it was said by my favorite superhero.” She leaned over, rifling through her bag for something Finally she seemed to find what she was looking for, her phone. “Look,” she exclaimed, showing Marinette an image on the screen.

“I’m sorry, Alya, I’m not that big on superheroes. Who is she?”

“This is Majestia!! Isn't she is just about the _coolest_ superheroine to ever exist?”

Marinette examined the screen again, about to comment that Majestia _did_ seem to be pretty interesting but a sudden shockwave knocked the girls onto the ground. Dazed, Marinette looked around, noticing that the other students in the library seemed to have felt it as well and were gathering themselves up. She had little time to wonder what had happened before Alya was at her side, grabbing her hand and shouting at her to, “Come on!” 

The ran to the security cameras in the library and ``Marinette watched, stunned, as a large stone being rampaged outside of the school. “Kim,” the creature shouted, clearly enraged.

A bolt of recognition ran through her. “What’s going on?! Whatever that thing is, it had Ivan’s voice!”

Alya did not seem to share her concern. “No way,” she shouted. “It’s almost like he was transformed into some sort of supervillain! A real-life supervillain!”

Marinette watched as Alya ran through a checklist of items before she bolted for the door.

“Wait, where are you _going_!”

Alya barely paused as she made for the door. “If there’s a supervillain here there must be a super _hero_ close by! I’ve been waiting for this my whole life, no way I’m going to miss it!” And with that, she was gone.

As she glanced back at the screen, Marinette watched the stone creature, Ivan, toss a car at the security camera, disrupting the video feed to the library. Distantly she heard someone shout for her to, “Run!”

Marinette didn’t need to be told twice.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lila’ first day at school was not going as well as she thought it would.

“You want to tell me what the _hell_ that thing is?!”

“It is your champion, Miss Lila! When you akumatized that boy you used his feelings of anger and this is what he became!”

Lila glared down at the purple creature, raging. “You didn’t tell me that I would be creating monsters! You said I’d have a _champion_! That is not what I asked for!”

“I am sorry, Miss Lila,” Nooroo cried. “The butterfly miraculous is not meant to be used in accordance with negative emotions! When you make a champion its purpose is to assist you in battle but we are not under attack at the moment. Stoneheart has no directive, only rage! He will not stop until he has what he wants and that is to hurt your new classmate! We must stop him!”

Lila balked. “There is absolutely no way I’m going near that thing! You’re a god or a kwami or whatever! You fix it!”

“It is difficult, Miss Lila! I could try to retract the akuma but the negative emotions you imbued it with when you akumatized Ivan would remain if I am not there to purify it. Once it leaves Ivan it may try to akumatize another person and if their emotions are _also_ negative we will have an entirely new danger on our hands.”

“What do you expect me to _do_ then?”

“You must transform! Become Farfalla, find Stoneheart’s akumatized object and break it. Then the akuma will be released! If you can touch the akuma with the end of your cane it will be absorbed inside. This will sever the connection between it and Stoneheart and it will be unable to infect anyone else.”

Lila growled in frustration as she took in Nooroo’s words. She hadn’t thought it would go this way. The kwami had explained that strong emotions were best for akumatizing a subject and when she had seen Ivan so angry at Kim she had figured that he would be a good test run for akumatization. But she hadn’t expected this! She fell to the ground as another shockwave rippled through the building.

She had thought that maybe she’d just ask Ivan to buy her lunch or carry her backpack around. Or perhaps he could back up one of her lies! She’d had such _plans_ for this school and now everything was going to be ruined because some two-ton _freak_ was going around destroying things!

“Miss Lila, please, you must hurry! People will be hurt, likely people already are hurt! You’re Farfalla and while you can capture the akuma but you cannot properly restore the damage that it has done.”

“What,” Lila shrieked.

Nooroo nodded solemnly. “Aside from creating another akuma using the emotions of someone frustrated by the damage to the city, you cannot fix it! To do even that, Stoneheart’s akuma would first need to be captured!”

“So what do I do?”

“We have no time to waste! Only you can capture Stoneheart’s akuma! Every second is another second that your new home is being destroyed! Another second that someone could be getting hurt or worse! We must stop Stoneheart!”

Lila stood with knocking knees.

“You can only create one akuma at a time which means that you will have no champion to aid you in this battle but I believe that you can do this, Miss Lila. You must.”

Pressing down the urge to be sick in the toilets, she said, “Nooroo, wings rise!”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette watched as the police fired at Stoneheart, flinching as he grew bigger in response. Mayor Bourgeois seemed to be trying to get a handle on the situation as he asked all Parisians to stay home during the attack. She watched also as her maman’s friend, Nadja Chamack, confirmed that Paris was being assaulted by a supervillain.

The police fired. Stoneheart grew. Police fired. Stoneheart grew. They fired. He grew. And grew. And grew. 

Why were they doing this? Surely they realized by now that with every hit their opponent only grew stronger. There had to be another way! They had to _find_ another way!

She watched the police fire again, watched Stoneheart grow, and with a set jaw she decided that Kim did not have that kind of time.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What do you think? Do you believe that she is ready?”

“Which girl do you mean, Master?”

Fu paused at this. “Truly, Wayzz, I do not know.”

“Master, you know that it is a great danger to send out the Ladybug. Le Paon has not yet made an appearance. We know he seeks both the Ladybug and the Black Cat and he already has the latter. I have not sensed Plagg in quite a long time and, if the miraculous were operable, it would be far easier to use it over the Peacock. I have told you before but I suspect that the ring is damaged.”

Fu regarded his friend with a serious air. “I believed that I could guide the Butterfly. There is a chance that I may have been wrong again but this remains to be seen. I will not send out the Ladybug unless absolutely necessary but I will say this: Every minute that the Butterfly does not act is another that I fear those necessary circumstances will arise. You are a good mentor, Wayzz, but I will continue looking for a Ladybug. Just in case.”

The green creature glanced up at the balcony of a pleasant bakery. “Tikki would . . . like her, I believe,” he finally replied. “But it is not impossible for a Ladybug to go dark. I just hope that this time you reach true certainty before entrusting her with a miraculous. Especially this one.”

Fu made to answer when he saw the girl, the possible Ladybug, exit the bakery doors and streak past him, stumbling in her haste.

“My trials in the past have been fairly leading and one-dimensional, haven’t they, old friend? Let us see what Ms. Dupain-Cheng does when left to her own devices.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette had never felt more foolish in her entire life. She loved hiding. Hiding was good! Hiding meant that she was safe from danger and if there was anything Marinette Dupain-Cheng did not like it was danger. And celery. And physics homework. And liars. But danger certainly made it pretty high up on the list!

And yet there she was, racing back towards her school because Stoneheart was far too close to overpowering the police. And he could only be after one thing. She burst through the doors and found the school lobby deserted. Unsurprising, but she couldn’t afford to be distracted. Her free period wasn’t up just yet, which meant that there were still a few minutes left of P.E. with Mr. D'Argencourt. 

She hurtled towards the field where she saw her classmates completing their cooldown stretches. Kim was shouldering his bag, smiling and totally unaware of what was coming for him.

“Kim,” she cried, still running. There was still time, there had to be time! She had to convince Kim to hide until something could be done about this. “Kim,” she shouted. She saw him turn to her inquisitively and she tried calling out to him, to explain, but her voice was drowned out.

“Kim,” Stoneheart bellowed as he jumped over the stands. Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette saw Rose and Max take off, shrieking. How had Stoneheart gotten here so quickly?! 

“Kim,” she implored, grabbing his arm like a vice. “Kim! We have to go, Stoneheart is after you!”

“Marinette, if I did anything to piss of a giant rock man, I think I’d remember,” he replied, quaking. 

Stoneheart took one heavy step towards them before breaking out into a sprint. Marinette pulled Kim after her without a moment to lose as the golem’s swiping hand just missed them. “You don’t understand, Kim! I think,” she said panting, “I think Stoneheart is _Ivan_!”

“Oh . . .,” Kim said in a small voice. “I might have done something to piss off Ivan. But - but I didn’t want this.”

Just as Marinette went to reply, Kim’s hand slipped out of her own and she glanced back to see he had fallen. Stoneheart was bearing down on them and Kim had nowhere to go. 

Why did this have to be happening? She had thought she might be able to make it to school before Stoneheart, thought she might have made it in time to warn Kim and then . . . And then what? Oh god, she had no plan! She couldn’t _fight_ Stoneheart. Even if he could feel her puny punches they’d only make him bigger and stronger. 

Stoneheart was closer. Kim was still dragging himself up but he wouldn’t be able to run in time. Marinette made an impulsive decision. She leaped in front of Kim crying out, “Ivan!”

The creature reared back at that. “I’m not Ivan anymore. I am Stoneheart!”

Marinette flinched as Stoneheart roared in her face. "No! You're Ivan and you're mad at Kim about something big but please you don't have to do this!"

“Marinette! What are you doing? Get out of there,” a voice cried. She glanced back, spying Alya crouched by the soccer goal. Her mind was racing a mile a minute.

There was no time and she didn’t know what to do and even after all of that running her legs suddenly didn’t remember how to move and Kim was frozen and Alya was recording and all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing but both Kim _and_ Ivan were wonderful people and why couldn’t she _move_ \- 

She saw Stoneheart’s hand too late. Marinette closed her eyes.

A sharp pinging sound caught her attention and she cracked one open. 

A girl stood before her but not any girl she had ever seen. Marinette had never seen a real superhero before (because they weren’t, they _couldn’t_ be real) but this girl seemed to fit the bill in a suit of purple spandex-like material as she knocked Stoneheart’s hand back with her cane once again. 

“Leave,” she said sharply, eyes widening as he grew. For the second time that day, Marinette didn’t need to be told twice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stoneheart's a pretty rough first akuma to have to fight, especially if you can't fight it which means Lila will be having a tough time with no champion and no Ladybug. As of right now with the chapters I have planned, the Stoneheart arc is the most removed from canon since the class dynamic and Marinette's receipt of the Ladybug miraculous have to be restructured from the ground up (it's also one of the longest akuma arcs I have written). I have a lot planned that I'm excited to receive feedback on!
> 
> Thanks for reading! ~Ash


	4. Stoneheart: Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila battles Stoneheart, Marinette is stupid, and Ivan is confused.

Another thing that Lila hadn't counted for when she had accepted the butterfly miraculous was getting tossed into the sturdy stands of the soccer field. Her suit must have had some hefty magical properties. A collision like that should have landed her in a full body cast or worse but she managed to drag herself up in time to roll out of the way of Stoneheart's fist. 

Nooroo had said to break his akumatized object and she knew exactly what it was. Whatever had been written on the piece of paper had to be outrageously upsetting, she thought, as she dodged his clenched fist once again. She wanted to be happy that Stoneheart had one fewer hand to grab her with but dodging the other was tricky and no matter what, every time she hit him he seemed to grow in size. 

How on earth did Nooroo expect her to fight Stoneheart if she couldn't _fight_ Stoneheart? 

It didn’t help either that those two girls were still on the field. She was under no delusions that this would be completed easily but finishing it quickly was significantly harder, she realized, when she had to make sure that Stoneheart didn’t squish her new classmates. 

She needed to get him to open his fist somehow but she could barely think. After a particularly close dodge, Stoneheart managed to swing his arm at her as she fell and Lila hit the ground hard. She tried in vain to push herself to her feet but Stoneheart took advantage of her disorientation and gripped her in his fist. Lila struggled to break free of his hold but it was no use. She glanced at the ground and saw her cane lying on the turf.

Stoneheart held her up to his eye level, roaring in her face and whipping her hair back. If she made it out of this alive, she and Nooroo would be having _words_.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Getting Alya to leave the field was proving a lot harder than Marinette thought. Kim had taken off almost immediately and she'd made him swear to hide the second he was safe. Alya, on the other hand, refused to move. The way she saw it, she was the only reporter on the scene and it was up to her to get the scoop that the news crews stationed outside the school would be dying for.

And, to be fair, if she were safe at home, Marinette would probably be scanning the news reports herself to figure out what on earth was happening. But she wasn’t. Instead, because she was dumb (so so _dumb_ ), she was stuck here trying to move the most stubborn girl she had ever met out of the path of very real, very _terrifying_ , life-threatening danger. 

As she was trying to drag Alya towards the exit, she heard the aspiring reporter gasp. Looking back, she saw that the girl in purple had been caught by Stoneheart. “Alya,” she cried. “We have to go, now!”

This, at least, seemed to shake her some, and Alya turned to flee before hesitating. “What’s that in Ivan’s hand?”

Marinette had been fully prepared to shout that obviously that that was an _entire person_ in his hand but she noticed what Alya meant. Something else seemed to be caught in his fist and suddenly Marinette saw all the grabs that the girl had made for his hand in front of her eyes as if in slow motion. Marinette glanced at Stoneheart, at the girl in his hands, and at a stray hose lying on the field. And she decided once again to do something so very stupid. 

“Alya, wait,” she said, “I have to do something!” Without waiting for a reply, Marinette ran for the hose. Alya seemed to realize what she was doing and ran over to the faucet, turning the water on. The reporter watched as water traveled up the hose and Marinette ran it over to Stoneheart’s feet. The ground underneath him grew muddy and the golem slipped, crashing to the ground.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lila was running out of ideas. When Stoneheart caught ahold of her, she could feel something pressed against her side and realized that he must have grabbed her with the fist that contained the object she had sent her butterfly into. If she could just break it his transformation would fall and she’d finally be finished but, no matter what she did, she couldn’t move enough to damage it.

She had been about to accept defeat before she heard the two girls shouting from the ground. She almost turned to tell them to leave again before Stoneheart began to topple. They hit the ground and Stoneheart’s grip suddenly released. As she fell, she watched the ball of paper, now turned an inky purple shade with the power of her akuma, fall beside her. They each slammed against the ground and the hardened paper cracked.

Lila stood, grasping at her side before being bombarded.

“Are you okay, purple girl?”

She looked up to see the girl with the glasses pointing her phone in her face.

“Are you okay,” she repeated. “Do you know what happened to Ivan? Are you a superhero? What’s your power? What’s your name? What was inside of that piece of paper?”

At this, Lila spoke up. “Where did it go?”

Alya seemed uninterested in Lila’s question and turned to her phone screen. “I can’t believe it! I’m coming to you live with a genuine superhero!”

Lila gripped her arm heavily. “ _Where_ did it go?”

Alya seemed affronted at this, ripping her arm out of the girl’s grip. “Hey, lay off! Where did what go?”

“The thing inside the paper, where did it go?”

“I-I don’t know!”

Frustrated, Lila grabbed her cane and prepared to take off to find it. 

“Wait,” Alya called, thrusting her camera in the girl’s face. “You haven’t answered any of my questions.”

Lila growled in annoyance before turning back to the reporter. She wouldn’t be left alone if she didn’t give the girl something and all she wanted to do in that moment was to find that _stupid_ butterfly, go home, take a nap, and try not to feel as if her whole body was on fire.

“Farfalla,” she hissed. “My name is Farfalla.” With that, she extended her cane, vaulting away from the field.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alya huffed in annoyance, turning to address the viewers of her live stream. “Don’t worry guys, Alya Cesaire is determined to bring you the truth. For now, we have to wonder: What caused Stoneheart? Where did the frosty Farfalla come from and what does she know about the sudden appearance of this stony super villain? Could Farfalla and Stoneheart be working together? Check back in soon for the hottest scoop!”

“Alya,” Marinette said hesitantly. “We should check on him. 

“Oh, right! But before we do that, everyone say hello to my new friend, Marinette Dupain-Cheng who, as you all saw, had the brilliant idea to turn on the hose and free Farfalla! Say ‘hi,’ Marinette!”

The girl waved briefly before stepping aside to go to Ivan.

“Ivan,” she asked, laying a gentle hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”

The large boy didn’t answer right away, holding his head as if in pain and shaking. Marinette reached for the piece of paper that seemed to have started all of this. “"You haven't even got the guts to tell Mylène you love her, wuss,” she read. She had to admit, it did sound like Kim.

“He’s always making fun of me,” Ivan whispered.

Marinette smiled reassuringly, “Forget Kim. If you love Mylène you shouldn’t feel bad about that and no one should make you. In fact, if you’re comfortable with it, you should explain what happened and tell her how you feel!”

“But,” Ivan said slowly, “but I don’t know what happened?”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Catching that butterfly had taken far too much time and energy but, luckily for Lila, she'd been able to track it and school was canceled for the rest of the day. Unluckily for Lila, she still felt like hot garbage after her battle with Stoneheart. To top things off, Nooroo wouldn’t stop nagging her.

“Oh, Ms. Lila,” he cried, “this is a terrible disaster.

“Don’t blame me, next time explain your powers more thoroughly,” Lila replied, voice muffled as she rested with her face in her pillow. 

“Ms. Lila, you misunderstand. There doesn’t seem to be anyone we can akumatize to fix the damage done to the city!”

This caught her attention. And her ire. 

“I don’t care, I’m done! Why don’t you just take your brooch and find someone who does?”

“You may renounce me if you wish, Ms., but please! You must do so after this damage has been repaired. Miraculous are not meant to be used for evil, their power is too great and Stoneheart was a very powerful champion! The damage he has done has been near catastrophic! It must be fixed as soon as possible”

“And you want me to akumatize someone else to fix it? How am I supposed to find someone,” Lila asked, already dreading another transformation. “And how do I know they’ll actually fix what’s wrong?”

“You will be able to feel for it,” Nooroo replied. “You imbued Stoneheart’s akuma with negative emotion and left him with no objective. Champions are meant to assist you! If you akumatize another person with the objective of fixing the damage done, they should be able to accomplish what you wish.”

“Lila,” came a voice from downstairs. “Lila, come here!”

Lila made her way downstairs and found her mother staring open-mouthed at the television. “Oh, Lila. This Stoneheart, didn’t he attack your school?”

“Yes, he did, mamma! I was so frightened,” she said, running mental calculations. What was the easiest way to get out of this mess? “I don’t know if this school is safe for me!”

“Lila, I know you must have been so scared. For tomorrow I won’t make you go to school if you don’t want to, but I believe we will be okay. After all, the boy is back to normal.” She looked down at her phone and a conflicted looked passed over her eyes. “I have to go now.”

“Already,” Lila asked, deflating. 

“Oh, yes, dear. The mayor is holding a celebration to honor Farfalla and the girl who helped her. I have to help with the preparations. I won’t be long though, I promise.”

Lila narrowed her eyes as the door closed behind her mother. “Well, we can’t disappoint the mayor," she said sarcastically. "If we’re lucky we’ll find someone who wants to fix this mess. Nooroo,” she said, “wings rise.” 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette wanted nothing more than to fade into the shadows at the moment. 

“Ugh, daddy, you _cannot_ be serious!”

“Oh, but I am serious, pumpkin! We must honor our heroes!”

“As if,” Chloe snarked. “Dumb-pain-Cheng will _never_ be a hero and Mariposa or whatever her name is didn’t do anything either! If you’re going to be using your worthless time to do anything you should be using it to find out why Adrikins never showed up to school!”

Marinette rolled her eyes as Chloe spoke. She didn’t want to be here anymore than Chloe wanted her here.

“Mayor Bourgeois, maybe Chloe’s right.” It burned her to say it but she’d do anything to get out of this. “I’m not a superhero! I just had a dumb idea and the even more dumb impulse to actually act on it!”

“Nonsense,” the mayor cried. “Your dumb idea gave our new superhero enough time to stop Stoneheart and take off to fight more crime -er- not to say that Paris is a particularly crime-filled city, of course!”

She saw Chloe frown heavily and open her mouth to launch into another tirade but Andre Bourgeois quickly turned to his daughter speaking in hushed tones though, if anyone cared to listen closely, they would note the mayor throwing around such phrases as, “ _. . . know she's not a hero . . . calm people down . . . campaign . . . election . . ._ ”

Chloe stomped off to complain to Sabrina no doubt and Marinette heard a light thud behind her and turned to see Farfalla landing behind her. “Oh! Hello,” she said lamely. 

The heroine plastered on an easy smile, a stark change from her earlier harshness. “Hello, if you could get me an iced latte that would be divine!”

“I- what? I’m not an intern or anything,” Marinette replied.

“Oh, I know,” said Farfalla, “but would you anyway?”

Marinette bristled. “Sorry, but mayor Bourgeois really wants me to stay put. Besides, she said, watching as he stepped up to a podium, “it looks like he’s starting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally wrote this chapter last week and then scrapped the whole thing right before posting it. I think this version is better than the first one and I can't rewrite it forever. Let me know what you thought!
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> ~ Ash


	5. The Risk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila lies, Marinette defends, and Wayzz is worried.

Mayor Bourgeois completed a brief thank you and opened the floor to questions by the reporters that had gathered to comment on the event.

“Yes, you,” he said pointing to one.

“Hello, Farfalla, I am Nadja Chamack. What can you tell us about the attack on Paris today?”

Lila hesitated. She barely knew how her miraculous worked and she couldn’t very well reveal her identity right here. What could she tell them that would be believable? “Today,” she began, “I fought a supervillain named Stoneheart. That supervillain was created by an enemy of mine.”

The reporters chattered at this. “An enemy? What does he want with Paris? If he’s after you does your presence put civilians in danger?”

She scanned the faces of the crowd as she grasped at this story. Nice going! Now how was she supposed to explain that she’d be staying in Paris? “Today was the first day he targeted a civilian. And I can’t let that stand! So I will defeat him and you will all be safe!”

There were undoubtedly quite a few holes in that explanation and dozens of hands and microphones shot into the air as the reporters jostled one another to have their questions answered. The mayor called on one at random.

“What is your opinion of civilians who got caught in the crossfire of your conflict in the meantime? Sources say that Stoneheart was actually a young boy! And the girl next to you was captured on an amateur news report assisting you in Stoneheart’s defeat.”

Ah, this she could spin to her advantage. “Ms.,” she paused here. “What is your name,” she said, turning to the girl behind her.

“I’m Marinette, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“I see. Frankly, I believe that Ms. Dupain-Cheng’s actions were reckless and dangerous.” She saw the girl tense from the corner of her eye. Good. “I had everything taken care of.”

“Ms. Dupain-Cheng,” shouted one reporter. “Why did you believe it necessary to put yourself in such danger?”

Marinette flinched at the intensity of attention on her. “I needed to help,” she said. “It looked like Farfalla was caught and that she couldn’t get free, I had to help her get away. My friend was also on the field as well and I needed to get her away from the battle.”

Another question fired at Marinette. “Alya Cesaire’s live stream also showed you helping a boy escape Stoneheart. Could you tell us about that?”

“That was - that was my classmate. Before Farfalla’s nemesis,” she said, looking at the heroine, “targeted Stoneheart, that classmate upset him. He must have still been upset when he was targeted because he went after Kim.”

“And the boy who was Stoneheart? You stayed with him after the attack. Why?”

“He - he was upset,” Marinette said, faltering. “He said he didn’t remember what had happened. Is that something your nemesis can do?”

Lila went ice cold. Of course! She had had to speak to Ivan to akumatize him in the first place. But, if what this Marinette had said was true, he wouldn’t remember hearing her voice. “Yes,” she answered in a tight voice. “Yes, one of his powers is to wipe memories.” It wasn’t, not exactly, but she couldn’t correct them now.

“Farfalla! Farfalla, please,” shouted another reporter, pushing to the front. “How do you expect to protect us? You say you had everything under control, but how can we trust that? Amateur footage or not, the video taken clearly shows Ms. Dupain-Cheng and her friend picking up the slack of your magical conflict!”

“Farfalla,” another cried. “Who are you? Where did you come from?”

Farfalla. Farfalla. Farfalla. Lila wanted to stop her ears, she couldn’t take it. Until . . .

“Excuse me, everyone!”

She looked back at Marinette again as she stepped forward. 

“We should give her a minute to breathe,” Marinette said. “If Farfalla is fighting a supervillain she can’t give her secret identity to the news, it’s meant to be a secret. And Stoneheart was made much more difficult to beat by the police’s initial assault. Every time they hit him, he grew bigger and stronger so maybe Farfalla would have been able to beat him sooner if they had held back.”

“But, Ms. Dupain-Cheng,” someone began, “how can you be so sure -”

“I’m not finished,” Marinette said firmly. “Farfalla helped us, she saved us, and we should help her if she needs it too. And these questions aren’t helping.”

“I’m afraid she’s right everyone,” said the mayor, finally stepping in. Scared of the direction the interview had taken no doubt, Lila thought. “Thank you, Farfalla, for saving the city and Marinette for your act of heroism as well.”

The crowd was undeterred by this attempt to end the conversation, but Lila had no interest in staying any longer. She took one long look at Marinette before leaping away. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<

When Marinette got back to her room, there was a strange box on her desk. She opened it cautiously, only to fall back in shock as a blinding light shone from inside. She scrambled back on the floor as she watched the ball of light take shape.

“Ah! It’s a bug - a mouse- a bug-mouse,” she shrieked.

The creature could fly and was red with black spots. Probably more bug than mouse, then, Marinette thought. And apparently it could speak too.

“Please don’t be afraid! Everything will be fine!”

Marinette only grew more afraid. “Ah! The bug-mouse can talk!”

The creature only seemed to shake its head fondly. “I like you! I think you’re going to be my best in quite a long time.”

Her brain was melting, it had to be. Maybe she’d hit her head helping out with Stoneheart. Or! Maybe Stoneheart hadn’t even been real and she was just going crazy! That had to be it! She spotted a glass on her desk and trapped the creature under it.

“If this makes you feel safe, Marinette, I don’t mind.”

“How do you know my name,” she demanded shakily.

“Calm down, Marinette,” the red bug-mouse replied. “I know everything must be very strange and frightening right now but, if you let me explain, you’ll start to understand a few things.”  
“Go on,” Marinette said warily.

The creature beamed. “My name is Tikki and I’m a kwami! I’m your kwami. The kwami of Creation, a power harnessed through the use of the ladybug miraculous!”

Marinette stared blankly. “Um, Tikki? I didn’t understand . . . most of that.”

Tikki was unfazed. “In the box you just opened are the earrings of the ladybug miraculous. With them, you can become a hero! You were chosen, Marinette, to take on a great responsibility.”

“Me? A superhero? Yeah right. More like super-awkward!” Marinette thought back to school earlier that day. Between losing her seat to Chloe and getting caught in the middle of a magical mess she hadn’t felt very super. 

“You’re wrong, Marinette. You were chosen. I can feel it,” Tikki said, placing a tiny paw against her chest. “I’ve had many Ladybugs in the past and I can already tell that you have great potential. You wouldn’t have been given the miraculous if you didn’t and the fact that I’m here at all means that the world really needs saving.”

“What would I even do?”

“You would transform! All you have to do is say, ‘Tikki, spots on’ when you want to transform. ‘Spots off’ is the detransformation phrase.”

“Tikki, that’s not what I mean. I mean what would I do as a superhero?”

“Oh,” Tikki said. “Well, that depends on why you were chosen and your situation is very . . . difficult. In all my years as a kwami I haven’t come across one quite as tangled as this one. It was brought to my attention that a hero called Farfalla debuted today.”

“Yes,” Marinette confirmed. “Should I be helping her?”

Tikki frowned at this and Marinette felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. “I - I’m not sure, Marinette.” Marinette stared incredulously at this and Tikki rushed to explain. “Under normal circumstances, I would not be permitted to tell you this, but you must know! The villain that appeared today was created by Farfalla!”

“What,” Marinette shouted, reeling. “But - but Farfalla is the one who fought Stoneheart!”

“Well,” Tikki said, “from what I hear you were instrumental in defeating Stoneheart but that’s not the point! I don’t believe that Farfalla wanted to create Stoneheart. She likely made a mistake as she got used to her powers, but the Guardian is unsure about her. If Farfalla creates another akuma, the ladybug miraculous must be active so that it can be cleansed and all can be restored.”

“But, Tikki,” Marinette began. “Stoneheart is gone so Farfalla must have taken care of it -”

“Stoneheart is gone,” Tikki said interrupting, “but the damage that he caused is not. Cleansing an akuma detransforms supervillains and with the power of the Miraculous Cure, all of the damage caused by an akuma can be restored. And that is a power unique to the ladybug miraculous, unique to you.”

Marinette’s head spun. If misusing her power had lead Farfalla to the creation of Stoneheart and all the destruction that he caused, Marinette could only imagine what would happen when she messed up too. That is if she didn’t manage to lose or break the earrings first. Whoever the Guardian was he had to have made a mistake, a massive mistake. And this! This was a massive disaster.

She felt a light pressure on her cheek and opened eyes she hadn’t realized she was clenching shut. “I know that it’s overwhelming, Marinette, but you were chosen. The Guardian believes that he may have made a mistake in choosing Farfalla. And I’ve ended up with holders who were not a right fit for the ladybug miraculous at all and the results can be awful. All people make mistakes. Even kwamis do! But, Marinette, you already proved yourself when you did everything you could to save everyone during that akuma attack. The Guardian believes that, if Farfalla creates another negative akuma, you will be the best person to stop it. And I believe that he’s right!”

Marinette looked up into Tikki’s eyes and saw the earnest conviction, the blossoming affection. Everything that Tikki had said she clearly believed wholeheartedly. To have her belief and the endorsement of this mysterious Guardian, how could she refuse?

“Okay, Tikki,” she said, “I’ll do it.”

“Oh, that’s excellent, Marinette! You’ll be a wonderful new chosen!”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You have to admit, Wayzz, she is an excellent candidate for the ladybug.”

Wayzz hovered around Master Fu indignantly. “I never said she wouldn’t be. In fact, if I recall correctly, I said Tikki would love her! But the risk you’re taking? What if we lose the ladybug miraculous?”

Fu hummed in thought. “The black cat miraculous has been damaged for quite some time,” he said. “Whatever his aim, Le Paon needs both of them fully functional in order to achieve his ends. I do not believe that even he would take that risk. But this is no matter. We will not lose Ladybug.”

Wayzz did not back down. “And Farfalla? Should you truly give her another chance after what happened? And the way she handled the controversy on the news?”

“She is inexperienced” Fu replied. “Surely you haven’t forgotten the trouble I caused when I first transformed.”

“I haven’t though I wish I could. But perhaps giving out the miraculous before Le Paon revealed himself to the public was a mistake. Surely he will see her lies as evidence of weakness and as a sign to strike.”

“He will,” Fu said firmly and Wayzz noted a certain lack of concern in his tone. “But he does not yet know about our new wielder. With the ladybug working together with Farfalla, I believe that we have a strong chance. Come, Wayzz. All we can do now is wait.”

Fu walked on at this and Wayzz stared after him. He had been with his chosen for quite some time. Still, it never failed to amaze him how many lessons he had left to learn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think? Things are getting a little tougher for Lila than she thought, but she's not out yet! For the most part, this story will only be focusing on akuma (canon or original) that advance the plot I have mapped out and I can honestly say that the different circumstances surrounding certain akuma should be pretty exciting! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!  
> ~ Ash


	6. Laying the Groundwork

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila tries to lay low as a hero, Marinette lays down the law, and someone is laying the groundwork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent literal months writing and re-writing this chapter and honestly? I did my best, here ya go!!

When she arrived at school the next day, Lila had decided what her next strategy would be. She hadn’t yet gotten rid of Nooroo. The little kwami had been pestering her endlessly about fixing the damage Stoneheart had caused and, while she didn’t know how much she wanted to bother herself with her new powers in the future, she did know that she felt like she had been flattened and a new akuma might be able to fix things for her.

When she finally brought herself out of her own head, she noticed a few of her classmates gathered together.

“Just look at all the views my video has,” a girl said. Lila remembered her from the akuma attack. Her name was . . . Alya?

“I still think you shouldn’t have tried to do something so dangerous,” Marinette replied.

“Paris wants to know what’s going on!”

“Hey guys,” she said, interrupting. “With that supervillain yesterday we didn’t really get to have much time to get to know one another. I’m Lila.”

“Oh,” Marinette said, turning her attention to Lila. “I’m -”

“Well, of course I know who you are,” Lila said smoothly. “You helped out with that monster after all. And you’re Alya, right? What video are you guys talking about?”

“I started a new blog yesterday and posted the video I took of Farfalla! I don’t have a name for it yet but the video is getting me major traction.”

“Oh,” Lila said, genuinely intrigued, “can I see it?” She had to know what people were saying about her now. The akuma fight hadn’t gone the way she’d hoped with Marinette interfering and making her look like a fool, but the interview, she hoped, had to have done something for her reputation.

She watched as she brushed off Alya’s questions and vaulted off. Had she been thinking she might have taken more time to answer. When Alya noted how cold she had been, Lila hated that she agreed. The comments on the video were split, it seemed.

“Okay but like she was literally in the middle of fighting a supervillain like couldn’t the questions wait,” one read.

“Idk I mean she didn’t even really do anything did she?”

“We don’t even know who her nemesis is! And if he could do something like that, then I’m thankful Farfalla is out there to counter him.”

“Lmao tfw a regular girl is better at fighting a supervillain than you are!!! Bet Marinette could take Far-fail-a in a fight lol.”

One was just a string of incomprehensible emojis.

Lila smiled tightly. She’d have to make another appearance as Farfalla in order to fix Stoneheart's mess and she couldn’t afford people ragging on her while she tried to do it. 

“I’m not so sure how I feel about this, Alya,” Marinette said. “We don’t know everything that’s going on. There are some really angry people in the comments and this could really cause some problems for Farfalla!”

Alya opened her mouth to respond but Lila saw her chance and took it. “Wow! I hadn’t even thought about that, Marinette. I mean, if Farfalla really has a nemesis out there what if they see this and try to attack her? Or,” she said, building up to what would have to be the kicker in her argument, “what if they go after Marinette? She did the most work after all.”

Alya paused and the chatter around them increased. 

“What,” Marinette exclaimed incredulously.

“Alya, dude, I think Lila might be right. You can’t put my girl-bro Marinette in that kind of danger.”

“Maybe Nino’s right,” a soft-spoken girl said. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

“Oh! But it’s a shame for Alya to give up on such hard work,” said a very pink girl.

Another mumbled something like, “Yeah, I kind of agree with Rose here.”

This was perfect. Already Alya was feeling overwhelmed with all of this new scrutiny, whipping back and forth to look at everyone. 

“Guys, wait,” she said smoothly. “I never meant for everyone to get upset with Alya! I just wanted to make sure Marinette would be safe. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything . . .”

“No! It’s okay, Lila,” someone said. “It’s so nice of you to be concerned about Marinette!”

“Yeah, we know you didn’t mean anything bad by it.”

“And I guess you’re right,” Alya said with difficulty. “I’m sorry, girl,” she said, turning to Marinette. "I’d never want to put you in danger like that. I’ll take the video down.”

Lila patted her shoulder sympathetically. It was for the best after all. As far as they knew, they’d be saving their friend, Marinette. Fewer people would see that blue-eyed show-off make her into a fool. It was a win for everyone. 

“Actually, Alya. I don’t mind if you keep the video up.”

Everyone paused at that. Lila included.

“You - you don’t,” she asked.

Marinette scratched at the back of her neck nervously. “I mean, not really. Alya’s was the first video to come out about what happened during the attack, but other news stations reported on it too. And Mayor Bourgeois called that press conference as well.”

There was a distinct hmph followed by an exclamation of, “Utterly ridiculous” somewhere in the crowd.

“Anyway,” Marinette continued, “even if Alya took her video down, it would still be up somewhere. Even Nadja Chamack reported on it.”

“But,” Lila began, grasping for anything to turn this back around. “But, Marinette, you can’t be serious!”

She tilted her head in confusion. “I am. Thank you for worrying about me though, Lila, you’re a really good friend.”

The warning bell for class rang and everyone started to gather their things and disperse. 

“But wait,” Lila said. “You were attacked by a monster, Marinette! It’s too dangerous.”

The courtyard grew silent and there were quite a few people who shifted their eyes away from her uncomfortably. Everyone started walking for their classes, leaving Lila with Marinette, Alya, and a few others from their class. What was with these people?

“His name is Ivan and, no matter what happened, he’s not a monster,” Marinette replied with more force than Lila had ever heard in her voice. 

“C’mon, girl,” Alya said, squinting at her suspiciously. “We gotta get to class.”

Marinette glanced back at her and had the nerve to have something like disappointment in her blue eyes. 

That little pest.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
When they got to class, things did not get any easier. 

“What do you think you’re doing to my seat,” Marinette shouted.

Crouched by her desk was a blond boy she’d never seen in school before, placing a wad of chewed up gum on her chair. 

The boy stood up quickly. “I was - uh . . . I was just -”

Behind her Marinette heard Chloe and Sabrina snickering. “Oh, I get it,” she said. “Very funny. Great work, you three, super original!”

“Wait, no! I was trying to take the gum off I swear!”

Marinette looked him up and down. “You are friends with Chloe, right”

“Why does everyone keep saying that,” the boy exclaimed. 

Marinette didn’t bother to decipher this, pulling a tissue from her bag and placing it over the gum. The boy slumped over to sit with Nino. Poor guy, she thought, I wouldn’t wish another one of Chloe’s minions on anybody. 

“I know I’ve seen him before, I just don’t know where,” she mumbled to herself. 

“I think I’ve found our new blonde beauty,” Alya said, leaning over to show a picture of the boy in question on her phone screen. 

Marinette took one look and snatched the phone to get a better view. “I can’t believe it! He’s the son of Gabriel Agreste, my fashion idol,” she moaned. “That must have been what Sabrina meant!”

“Yikes,” Alya said. “He’s friends with Chloe and he gets by on that pretty face and daddy’s money? No thanks!”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
After class, Marinette was bustling by her locker when she heard some of her classmates talking.

"You really don't remember anything," Alix asked skeptically.

"Yeah, you were totally going ballistic," Juleka mumbled. "Super cool."

"I already told you no," Ivan replied. 

"Well, you were really out to crush me, dude! Like you seriously wanted to destroy me," Kim said.

Marinette looked over, making sure to pay more attention. She saw Ivan cast his eyes over to the side before he answered. Was he looking at . . . Myléne?

"I'm sorry. I . . . I wasn't myself."

"Yeah right," Chloe said snarkily. "I've got to agree with what Layla said earlier. Once a monster, always a monster!" 

At this, Ivan stood up abruptly and stormed out. Without hesitation, Marinette followed after him.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Lila was not enjoying her day so far. That wannabe journalist still hadn't taken down her video and that brat Marinette had made her look like the villain when she'd been concerned about her. She was lucky that few people had heard that exchange and yet here was Chloe shouting it loud and proud for those who hadn't already heard.  
"What," a pink haired girl said, advancing on her. "Not cool, Lila!"  
"If Stoneheart's appearance was caused by negative emotions as news reports seem to suggest, my calculations say that there is a 98.35% chance that such a comment could cause a possible reappearance of the stone being," a boy with classes said, typing away at a calculator.  
"It's also just not nice," Rose said weakly. "Remember, Ms. Bustier always tries to help us say nice things about one another!"  
"Wait," she said. Ah, the wounded gazelle routine would work perfectly here. "That's not what I meant. Chloe's putting words in my mouth."  
"I don't know, girl," Alya replied, "I was there and you definitely weren't the nicest earlier."  
Right. She had to deal with the reporter.   
"I know," she said, sniffling pathetically. "It's just that when I was a little girl I used to suffer from sleep paralysis and I had terrible nightmares about a monster that looked similar to Stoneheart. I didn't mean to say that about Ivan, I really didn't! Stoneheart just reminded me of the creature that terrorized me as a child!"  
There seemed to be a pause. Alya moved first.  
"I didn't know that that was why you were so scared. It's okay, Lila. I'm sorry we didn't hear you out before we got all mad."  
"No," Lila continued. "It's not alright. I must have really hurt Ivan's feelings. Do you think he's really upset with me?"  
"No way, Lila," Rose chimed.  
"Yeah," Kim said. "If you're sorry there's no way Ivan can be mad at you, right?"  
There were a few murmurs of assent.   
"Thanks everyone,'' she said, wiping tears from her eyes. "Since I came here all the way from Italy. It means a lot to me to be able to make friends at this new school."  
There was a chorus of people replying that they would be her friend. Jackpot.   
"Puh-lease! All of you losers can make friends with the crybaby all you want! It doesn't change the fact that I'm right," Chloe snapped.  
"Leave her alone, Chloe," Myléne said hesitantly.  
"Yeah," Alya added, stepping in front of her protectively. "First you pick on Marinette, then Ivan, and now Lila? You're nothing but a bully Bourgeois!"  
"Hmph, and you're nothing but a nobody," Chloe said, flipping her hair behind her. "Sabrina, let's go! I think these peasants have enjoyed enough of my radiance for today."  
"Yes, Chloe! Of course, Chloe," Sabrina chorused.  
From behind Alya's shoulder, Lila glared at Chloe's retreating figure with slitted green eyes. That had been far too close.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The day's remaining classes passed by with few further distractions. As she rummaged in her locker to gather her things and go home, Lila noticed Ivan hovering by Myléne's locker. When the girl in question appeared, his face lit up.  
"I wrote this for you," he told her shortly before starting to let out the most ear-splitting sounds she had ever heard in her life.   
Myléne seemed to agree as she blocked out her ears and ran from the locker room. She watched as Ivan crumpled up his lyric sheet and chucked it into the garbage.  
The brooch inside her jacket gave a warm thrum. No way, she thought, not again.  
She left the locker room discreetly and did not look back.  
In the courtyard she found Marinette and Alya yet again.   
"Hey, guys," she said. "What's up?"  
"We were going to Marinette's house to do some homework," Alya replied. "Apparently she and her parents live above a bakery and I'm dying to try their food. You should come with us."  
"Oh, really," Lila asked. "What a coincidence! When I was living abroad in Germany I apprenticed with a master baker."  
"Wow, Lila," Marinette said as they walked. "Which was your favorite thing to bake? I really love a good croissant."  
"Oh," Lila said floatily. "There were just so many different types to make. I guess I did enjoy Sonnenblumenbrot. Rye bread in general is just so delicious."   
"Do you mean, pumpernickel," Marinette asked.   
Lila short-circuited. "What?" Then, realizing what was happening, she asked, "Are you calling me a liar?"  
"No, of course not," Marinette insisted. "It's just that Sonnenblumenbrot is made with sunflower seeds. Pumpernickel, on the other hand, is a very popular rye bread. Papa likes to try new recipes every once in a while and those were two of my favorites."  
"Man, I'm getting hungry," Alya said. "I can't wait to try some."  
Before Lila could chime in (and truthfully she didn't know what she could say to that) they had come upon Marinette's house.   
"Hello, maman, papa," Marinette said, opening the door of the bakery.   
Lila scrutinized the two people at the counter. The woman seemed pretty unremarkable, though she could see the obvious resemblance to Marinette but it was her father that caught her attention. The man was huge, just setting down a sack of flour he'd tossed over his shoulder.   
"Hello baobei," the woman said. "Who've you brought with you today?"  
"This is Alya and Lila," Marinette said, gesturing to them in turn. "They're new to school this year. Is it okay if they stay for lunch?"   
"Of course!" The man swept them into a hug. "Any friend of my little girl is welcome here."  
"Thanks, Mr. Dupain," Alya wheezed.   
"Now, Tom," Marinette's mother said, smiling indulgently. "Let the girls go and have their lunch."  
After having been released, the girls went up to Marinette's room. Looking around, Lila noted a sewing machine and several mannequins dressed with projects in various stages of completion.  
"You sew, Marinette," she asked.   
"Yes," she replied, digging into her lunch. "I want to be a designer someday!"  
Alya chimed in. "Well keep it going, with work like this you're well on your way! When you're big and famous let me do a story or two about you, okay?"  
"Thanks, Alya," Marinette said gratefully. "But we're moving in baby steps for now."  
Lila took in the casualness of the interaction, feeling bored. She hadn't expected lunch to be full of excitement but, honestly, wasn't there anything else to do than munch on croissants and idly chitchat?  
There was a loud booming sound and Lila flinched.   
"What was that," she said, bordering on panic. She'd listened to Nooroo! She hadn't done anything akuna related since Stoneheart and she hadn't found anyone to fix the city yet. What on Earth could be happening now?   
"Turn on the news quick," Alya cried.   
Marinette did just that and the three girls watched as Nadja Chamack appeared on screen. "Don't be bemused, it's just the news! I'm Nadja Chamack reporting live as what appears to be yet another supervillain terrorizes Paris. Strangely, this supervillain seems to be . . ."   
This couldn't be happening! "Marinette," she said tightly, "may I use your restroom?"  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"Catch you later, Marinette," Alya cried. "If everyone loved my first scoop then just wait until they see this!"  
"But Alya wait!"  
It was no use. The reporter was out the door.  
Marinette turned her attention back to the screen and stared in confusion. The villain was a stone creature but it was not Stoneheart as she had expected. She felt a small pressure against her hip and looked down, noticing Tikki’s face peeking out at her from her purse.   
Marinette glanced back at the bathroom door, where Lila had hidden herself and climbed out onto her balcony as quietly as she could, closing the trap door behind her.   
Tikki zipped out of her purse in a blur of red. “Marinette, you have to transform, now!”  
Marinette balked. “What?! Tikki I don’t understand what’s going on? What’s with that supervillain?”  
“That supervillain was created by another miraculous user, the user of the peacock miraculous. It is called a sentimonster and you must go defeat it.”  
Even though she and Tikki had talked a lot about how the Ladybug miraculous worked, Marinette found herself unable to move. The creature, the sentimonster Tikki had said, was raging across the city. She had been able to help with Stoneheart because she knew Ivan but she was completely out of her depth with this.  
Tikki waved tiny paws in front of her face. “Marinette, I know you’re scared but we don’t have much time! We have to move now! You can do it!”  
“I hope you’re right about me,” she said. “Tikki, spots on!”  
Immediately Tikki was enveloped in a red light, zooming into Marinette’s earrings. She felt alive with a pulsing power, watching as her own clothes were overtaken by a suit much like the one Farfalla had been wearing. It was simple, red with black spots and fitting of a Ladybug. She took the lid off of a pot of water on her table, looking at what little of her reflection she could see. Her face was covered by a spotted mask, to protect her identity she guessed.   
With Tikki gone she’d have no one whispering in her ear, telling her what to do. It was nerve wracking. Still, she steeled herself for what she’d have to do.  
She gripped her yo-yo in her hands, remembering that Tikki had told her she could throw it and swing to get around the city. Before she took off, she opened her trap door calling down to Lila, “Lila, things seem really dangerous, you should stay here. I’m going to go find Alya before she gets hurt!” She made to throw her yo-yo before she realized something.  
She used her yo-yo to snag her doorknob, using it to open and shut the door. There, she thought, Marinette would have to use the door to leave, not the balcony. With that done, the hook herself on a building a ways away and jumped off the balcony.   
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Lila stepped cautiously out of the bathroom after she heard Marinette’s door close. Nooroo floated gently up to her eye level.   
“Ms. Lila we -”  
Lila held up a hand and bared her teeth in something like a snarl. “I thought this would be over when I fixed the city! We’re going to be having a talk about this later. Nooroo, wings rise!”  
Lila climbed up onto Marinette’s balcony and vaulted off of the roof with her cane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have the major beats of this story planned up through at least 20 more chapters but writing it out is crazy hard. Any feedback is appreciated!!


End file.
